


Together isn't that bad

by Dulcet_coffee



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Era, Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, No Angst, One Shot, Rain, Sharing a Bed, Short One Shot, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28270839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dulcet_coffee/pseuds/Dulcet_coffee
Summary: Erwin and Levi go out riding, but are forced to take shelter from a storm---“So,” He begun, but his tongue dried.The storm wreaked havoc outside. A horse knickered.
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Kudos: 105





	Together isn't that bad

There were clouds on the horizon. Not the soft, fluffy, terribly alluring clouds, either; just the clouds that were dark, dense, and filled a particular Erwin Smith with a sense of horrible foreboding and despair.   
“See?” Levi shouted, gesturing wildly at the mass. “I warned you about this. _I_ warned you about this, but you said we can’t possibly have a _storm_ during _Summer_.”  
“Levi-”  
“What is this, Erwin? Can you identify what this is? An ink splotch, perhaps? One of your weird tests of ‘how do you interpret this drawing’? Because I sure as hell don’t see anything but rain and thunder!” He took a swig from his water skin, and wiped his mouth aggressively.  
“Well, that one there does look like a pig, I suppose…”  
“No, Erwin. That one looks like _cloud_.”  
They had been walking perhaps closing to 2 hours now, with a little of an hour left to go before they reached their destination. The horses were sweating profusely, and so were they. Erwin’s own patience had greatly waned from the day’s helping of sunshine and hot, still air, while Levi’s idea of a polite exchange had completely taken vacation.   
“Maybe they wont reach us in time, I don’t feel much of a breeze.” Erwin held out a hand, before promptly withdrawing when he felt a strong gust of wind. Levi offered a murderous glance.  
“I’d suggest you say something that won’t curse us.”  
Erwin didn’t have words for that. He looked up to the horizon, to the sickly green haze that smoked up his view. Truly, it was his fault for not equipping them in case there was unexpected weather. Just the day was so hot, and he didn’t quite find it in himself to burden their horses with the extra weight... So he let Levi kick him a little, he supposed it was a small price to pay if he gets away without a cold. Oh. If Levi got a cold. He decided not to torture his imagination with the creative words he’d get _then_.   
“Did you perhaps pack something that could help us?” He asked instead, and hoped against hope Levi had disobeyed his orders just this once. Levi scoffed.  
“A horse brush and rope for halters. Nothing to cover your wig, though.”  
Erwin spurred his horse into a trot to catch up.  
“Maybe ease up on the insults, Levi? I know I made a mistake, but you should really save your energy for the new recruits.”   
Levi considered him for a moment, before sighing, deflating into a much more tired posture. “You’re right, sorry. I just can’t believe what a shitty situation this is.”  
“We’ll find shelter, don’t worry.” Erwin reached over and laid a hand on his shoulder, meant to reassure him, before recoiling with as much grace as possible when he felt the shirt was sweat soaked.  
To be honest, he wasn’t entirely sure where this shelter could be. The map didn’t exactly outline individual buildings as opposed to landmarks of villages. And the lay of the land was a far call from open plains of miles and miles of grassland. In fact, they were passing a rather sparse forest right now. Erwin reached up and picked a blackberry from a passing bush. When he offered Levi one, there was a great deal of remarks- something about getting poisoned by ‘magical death berries’. So they passed on that.  
The end of the forest spelled some hills in open farmland, and Erwin’s confidence twitched as the writhing blanket above them was a good deal closer to their heads. The horses struggled up a climb on a hill, and he felt the beginnings of rain splatter his face.  
“Hey, how much longer till we find this shelter?” Levi called, when the rain eased into a persistent drumming. Erwin’s gelding nearly lost its footing in the mud forming on the dirt road.  
“I-”  
There was a barn. They reached the top of the hill, and just further along the road a painted red barn stood, its paint washed and an alarming amount of broken wooden planks surrounding it.  
“There.” He said. “That barn, we’ll take shelter there until the storm passes.”  
A howl of wind punctuated his reply, and tossed their horses’ manes wildly. His shirt, already soaked previously, received a thorough washing of rain that sent his skin prickling and set a chatter in his jaw. He nudged his horse into a brisk trot, and wordlessly signalled for Levi to follow his lead.  
The barn, despite looking to be in quite a disarray regarding its condition, turned out to have its doors firmly shut. Erwin dismounted, and after some incessant tugging managed to shift the door somewhat. He swapped with Levi to hold the horses, and the other man wrenched the door open enough to allow them to squeeze inside. Although, Erwin’s horse struggled a little to fit his stomach through.   
It was dark inside the barn, and a few holes in some wall and even the roof let in the wind’s shrieking. But it was significantly warmer, and for that Erwin thanked whatever power in high heavens.  
He heard Levi shut the door with a resounding crash, and turned around to see his wet clothes clinging to him and making him look tinier than usual. Wordlessly, Erwin took out a candle from his saddlebag and struck some flint until the wick caught fire. He settled down next to it, and Levi sat with his arms looped around his knees opposite.  
“So,” He begun, but his tongue dried.   
The storm wreaked havoc outside. A horse knickered.   
“I’ll dry the horses.” Levi grunted, and walked off some way behind Erwin. He listened to the brushing of fur, and consequent splash of water that wrung out onto the concrete floor, before taking out his map. It detailed that the forest they just passed through wasn’t all that far from the village.   
“We’ll get there come morning.” He called over his shoulder, and snatched the parchment out of the way as he saw Levi leading his horse to a far corner, near a stray hay bale.   
“If at least five of those brats over there aren’t going to be swooned into joining, I’ll drag their asses to the wall. They should consider it lucky we took our personal time to go chore recruiting.”  
“We’ve never been to this village before, I’m sure there’s many who’d like a job that’s not toiling in the fields for the rest of their lives.”  
Levi shrugged. “I guess.”  
“We should hang the wet clothes up to dry overnight,” Erwin continued. “To avoid getting hypothermia.”  
Levi cocked an eyebrow at that.   
“Won’t we just, you know, freeze more?”  
Erwin sighed heavily, and looked around the rather empty barn. Its sides were piled high with straw and hay, and he spotted a fabric rag in a shadowed crevice. He didn’t want to discover what species of flea lived in that.   
“Maybe, but first and foremost we need to get dry. Wet clothes often slow down warming up.” He met Levi’s eyes, and when he saw the man making no move, he stood up himself. It’s not like they haven’t seen each other like this before. “Get that rope for the halters, the horses can’t roam out of the barn. Tie it up to those hooks meant for holding up hay -yes, like that- and we’ll hang up the shirts and riding pants on it.”  
True to Levi’s word, the air seemed colder after removing his clothes. He watched while his Captain meticulously undressed too and spread the fabric as much as he could over the rope.   
“…Did you pack food?”  
“No.”  
A flash of lightning echoed across the barn. The thunder unsettled their horses. A drop of water landed in some bucket.   
“Then…” He trailed off. “Let’s just go to sleep.”  
Erwin turned to the side which was missing the hole in the roof. It was stacked rather high with straw and hay of all sorts, and he begun climbing the heaps. Near the top, the air felt warmer and smelt mustier; the long hours of sunlight on the roof must’ve warmed it some. He heard shifting and rustling as Levi climbed up after him, and they settled down back-to-back.   
“Did you blow out the light?” Levi murmured sleepily.  
“ _Oh_.”   
He groaned.  
“Go blow it out, then. I’m not moving.”  
Erwin struggled up, blinking tiredly, and done his best not to accidentally send Levi sliding down with a landslide. The horses pricked their ears at his arrival. A quick smothering of flame, and he joined Levi back up to their makeshift bed.  
“There. The candle’s dead.”  
“Aren’t you the husband.”  
Erwin chuckled. He sat on the edge of the pile’s summit, and reached a palm to feel Levi’s back. The skin was cold to the touch. He paused for a moment, before curling up next to him.  
“You’re cold.”   
“You should become a detective.”  
“And pass up sleeping in a barn with you?”  
“ _Go to sleep_.”  
Erwin smiled silently, staring at Levi’s back. A little way above them, the thrumming of raindrops pattering the roof increased in their intensity. For a moment, the strange floods and shapes of the dark coloured as lightning struck, before rounding off to darkness again, with a familiar low rumble.  
He wasn’t sure when exactly he drifted off to sleep, rather cold and with tiny little needles prickling the better part of his body. However, he did feel the sudden warmth that filled him some way through the night. Something warm, soft, a little smaller than him, had attached to his back in his dreams. He wondered what it could possibly be.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel welcome to leave kudos or any comments. Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
